From what I have read on this site (and HuffPost) from the last two days, the left is furious about the spending freeze.
Cruising other sites I have noted that the right is also furious about the spending freeze. I thought it was interesting that both sides hate it so I thought I would be productive at work and do a little research...
The Left Opinion
From what I gather, it appears that liberals oppose this spending freeze primarily because it will be an effective budget "cut" (due to the effect of inflation) in the future.
Before I continue, let me state that from what I understand this proposed freeze will only affect discretionary spending, not defense, medicare, etc.
The Right Opinion
Now, lets take this from conservative standpoint. They aren't opposed to the freeze exactly. In fact at first glance, a conservative would tend to approve of the President's intent to save money.
However, for some reason (probably because conservatives tend to dislike democratic politicians, just like liberals tend to dislike republican politicians), they dig deeper and view it as a political ploy to sway ignorent independents and even conservatives.
The Facts
Since discretionary spending increased by roughly 24% in FY 09 (I'm not blaming either president, they both contributed to the increase), a freeze on further increases is not really reducing discretionary spending in the future as many liberals claim.
So, if one can assume an average 3% inflation, it will take 8 years to counteract the increase from FY 09 and reduce their budget back to FY09 levels.
Now, if you look at it short term (i.e. after the freeze is put into effect), it appears that budgets decrease by 3% (average) per year due to inflation. However, if you take the 09 numbers into account, they still got a huge boost in spending and if they plan for the effects of inflation, they will still come out far far ahead of the curve especially since the freeze is only going to be in effect for 3 years.
And once you take into account the Presidents FY2010 budget which also had a large (approx 20% increase in discretionary spending). So again, even if you take into account the freeze, discretionary spending has increased by a lot in the last 2 years.
Bottom line, discretionary spending has increased far far more than a freeze would affect (roughly 9%) over the 3 years it would be active. As I see it, liberals should be happy about this freeze. Especially
This diary was primarily inspired by Roves comments that were evalutated by politifact. Obviously his comments don't really apply since he was trying to blame President Obama for the inccreases, I just used that article for their numbers and facts about the freeze.
Politifact Entry
If any of my assumptions are wrong, please let me know below.